John Yoo

John Yoo is a professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall), and is best known for his work from 2001 to 2003 in the United States Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. He contributed to the PATRIOT Act and wrote controversial memos regarding the USA's obligations to enemy combatants under the Geneva Convention.

Related Topics:
Professor - Law - University of California, Berkeley - Boalt Hall - United States - Office of Legal Counsel - PATRIOT Act - Geneva Convention

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As an infant, Yoo immigrated with his parents from South Korea to the United States. Yoo grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Harvard University in 1989 and Yale Law School in 1992. Yoo clerked for United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman. From 1995 to 1996 he was general counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee. He is currently a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Related Topics:
South Korea - Philadelphia - Pennsylvania - Harvard University - Yale Law School - United States Supreme Court - Clarence Thomas - U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit - Laurence Silberman - Senate Judiciary Committee - American Enterprise Institute

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After he left the Department of Justice, it was revealed that Yoo authored memos defining torture and American habeas corpus obligations narrowly.http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5032094/site/newsweek/ Protestors at Berkeley demanded that he renounce the memos or resign his professorship. He has done neither.

Related Topics:
Torture - Habeas corpus

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Yoo's academic work includes analysis of the history of judicial review in the U.S. Constitution. (See discussion in the Marbury v. Madison entry.)

Related Topics:
Judicial review - U.S. Constitution - Marbury v. Madison

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Yoo is the son-in-law of television reporter Peter Arnett.

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